It is sometimes necessary to form a feature or features in a thick-film ink (or “slurry”) deposited on a substrate. One way to do this is by screen printing the features. With screen printing, a screen having the features formed therein is placed over the substrate, and the thick-film ink is deposited on the substrate through the screen. Another way to form features in a thick-film ink is to stencil print the features. With stencil printing, a stencil having the features formed therein is placed over the substrate, and the thick-film ink is deposited on the substrate through the stencil. While screen printing is typically better suited to the deposition of relatively thinner thick-films, stencil printing typically offers better release characteristics when depositing relatively thicker thick-films. However, each of these processes is limited in the types of features it can be used to produce—especially in a micro or sub-micro environment.
Some of the limiting factors of screen and stencil printing processes include larger than desired feature alignment tolerances, feature width tolerances, and feature thickness tolerances. Larger than desired feature alignment and feature width tolerances can result, for example, from screen and stencil deflection, screen and stencil manufacturing tolerances, screen and stencil instability, slumping of the thick-film ink before and during cure, edge effects at feature edges from the wire mesh of a screen stencil, and nonuniformities in the screen and stencil printing processes as a whole. Larger than desired feature thickness tolerances can result, for example, from wire mesh removal dynamics, thick-film ink slumping and shrinkage, and nonuniformities in the screen and stencil printing processes as a whole.